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Red Genetics
Red is the recessive color in Malamutes, if the puppy gets genes for red hair color from both parents it can be a mahogany color. This applies to the under coat as well,
so the guard hairs can black with a buff or red undercoat.
You can not rely on puppy color to determine the final coat color of a Malamute, however with practice you can usually make a fairly close guess. This is because Malamutes tend to move towards the middle ground, ie: lighter colored pups will generally darken and darker colored pups will tend to lighten up.
Face Markings
Face markings also change dramatically, but if there is no mask, a pup will usually stay open faced. Masks follow much the same pattern as body color- however they will always lighten.
That being said, darker red Malamutes often have a fuller mask than lighter colored Mals. Sables will have a mask or bars in black (see pup on the right). Creams (light reds) often have a slight reddish tinge to the areas around the mask. All white Mals have no sign of a mask.
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